Social Entrepreneurship: The "New Kid" on the University Block: Been Wondering What People Mean When They Say "Social Entrepreneurship"? Wonder No More

Abstract

With the convergence of an ailing economy, a new generation of political leaders, and a strong public sentiment that change is needed on many fronts within our society and across the world, the phenomenon of has found new life and is flourishing within society as a whole and within higher education in particular. Yet, there exists some confusion and debate about the definition of and whether it is a useful concept for application across disciplines within the academy. There are also questions about where such programs should be situated within the academy. Do they belong in the business school alongside education? Are they a better fit for the sciences? Is an interdisciplinary field of study or a multidisciplinary field? This article seeks to shed light on these questions by examining the origin and evolution of the term social entrepreneurship and its use by practitioners outside the academy. Drawing upon this background, the article suggests a conceptualization of that would situate it broadly in the curriculum rather than limiting it to one discipline. Social Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurship Education Social is a term frequently used in popular publications today. Recent articles in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, USA Today, the Washington Post, and many others tell the story of a burgeoning field in which business practices (sometimes involving the creation of a sustainable revenue stream) meet responsibility and a strong desire for change. In the past two years alone, there have been over 1,000 news stories covering everything from conferences focusing on the convergence of and responsibility (European Economic and Social Committee 2008), to learning the all-important elevator speech for one's venture (Wake Forest University 2008), to the genesis of programs on university campuses across the United States (Babson College 2008). General education is well-established in academe. Entrepreneur and The Princeton Review published a list of the top 50 colleges and universities for education in 2009, and included on the list of undergraduate institutions were such schools as University of Houston, Babson College, and Drexel, DePaul, and Temple Universities (Entrepreneur and The Princeton Review 2009). In fact, Zwaniecki (2008, [paragraph] 6) notes that [i]n 1970, no more than a handful of such programs existed. By the early 2000s, about 1,600 universities and colleges offered 2,200 courses, according to a 2003 study. Those numbers have grown significantly over the past seven years, but one is still left to discern whether these university programs are simply traditional programs grounded in business school ideas or whether they include and therefore might more readily be incorporated into other academic disciplines (e.g., sciences, humanities, natural sciences, and education). For example, in a recent New York Times article, Dreamers and Doers (Schwartz 2009), the author features the entrepreneurial education taking place at Babson College, the living-learning communities included in this educational experience, and many of the unique ideas Babson students have generated and implemented. Most of the ideas featured are entrepreneurial in nature, and, if one digs a little deeper, there is mention of students who have developed ideas focusing on societal change (e.g., a nonprofit organization intended to help fight for human rights in Darfur). Babson is but one of many institutions that includes initiatives as part of its broader education program. The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a leading supporter of education, reports that there are more that 5,000 campuses that currently offer courses or programs (Schwartz 2009). …